That's an interesting analysis, Ake. As you would expect I don't see it that way. But Ithat's ok: I never claim perfection of vision.   I agree it would be a Machiavellian level of shrewdness if this was Davis' plan all along and he fooled people into thinking they had wrung this out of him but in actuality they had unwittingly contributed to his Grand Plan. But It seems very unlikely.

I am a bit disappointed by the last bit though - do you really think it is manouvering to allocate blame for anything that might go wrong? After all, if the vote went Davis's way it would be the deal he negotiated so no one else is 'to blame' and if the vote is rejected it would be WTO rules which many people here including you have argued for, so again I don't see how those who voted against the deal could be sensibly blamed for anything that went wrong.